TripDoodler is paving the way through sustainable travelling, showing that the individual can make good choices while also exploring the world
This travel tech startup is building the world’s first database of sustainable recommendations, making it possible for travellers to make sustainable choices while being on the road. Whether the sustainable choice is focusing on environmental, social, or financial sustainability, that choice is given back to the user as TripDoodler helps define what sustainability means for consumers. Through their platform, travel planning is made easy with itineraries and inspiration gathered in one place. Additionally, this have been made shareable for fellow travellers, likeminded, friends etc., and all while incorporating sustainability into the trip.
“I’m one of those people, and I know I’m not alone, who loves planning my trips almost just as much as I love going on them. TripDoodler is also satisfying that part of me, as I know it does for others. The platform we’re creating is a way to share the enthusiasm around planning trips and to create a community around it. We provide the opportunity for you to gather all your travel information and inspiration in one place. We collect all inspiration from friends, magazines, online services etc. in our app and from there on you’re ready to plan your itinerary.”
“When you’re done planning, or maybe you are already done travelling, you can share your itinerary with your friends, co-travellers, etc. This is a way of gathering people in a community around travel inspiration or co-travellers for logistical matters for an upcoming trip.”
“The icing on the cake, and potentially my favourite part of TripDoodler, is that we’ve built sustainability algorithms into our platform. In other words, we make it possible to see the impact of the choices you make in your travel plans. Our sustainability focus doesn’t focus solely on environmental impact. Every traveller has a personal choice on where to focus, to travel more sustainably. We leave it up to them to decide what they regard as most important.”
“Our users can differentiate between focus areas, such as environmental, social, or financial sustainability. Implementing sustainability into the modern travelling of today. All this is gathered with us at TripDoodler. While travel plans today are extremely fragmented and scattered on several different websites and apps, our platform unites the full planning process and includes sustainability measures. All this data will allow us to build the world’s first database of better choices which we are incredibly proud of.”
It doesn't mean that you can't be sustainble
“There is an assumption that being sustainable means you cannot travel. In our opinion that is simply not true.”
“Even though you choose to travel, see the world and expand your horizons, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t be sustainable in the process. All it takes is one decision at a time. There is a growing number of people who wish to be sustainable but are just not sure how to do it. With TripDoodler, we give travellers a place to start: With the planning. Our tool helps conscious travellers make sustainable choices one decision at a time, whether it’s environmental, social, or financial.”
We've been forced to rethink our business model
“Starting a travelling platform amid a global pandemic has led to some challenges that we couldn’t have predicted, but we see a lot of possibility in these hurdles, to be honest. While we’ve been forced to rethink our business model and our launch date, it has been such a learning experience for us, and we now see a much broader audience in our scope.”
“On the other side of the COVID-19 crisis, we predict that travel is going to be done more local and done with more focus on conscious travel. The current pandemic has put a heightened emphasis on sustainability, and we see that we can help lift that sustainability whether it is locally right now or once we’re allowed to move across country borders once more. So, all in all, we have charged these challenges head-on and see them now to be our force in the future.”
Understanding the differences there are for female and male founders
“I was a part of the program ‘Female Founders in Tech’. It was a programme which you at Digital Hub Denmark supported and was run by The Trade Council of Denmark in New York and Female Founders of the Future, with the focus on scalability and internationalisation of startups. It was supposed to be a short and intense program, but because of corona, it turned into a six-month programme with various online courses. In my opinion, this increased the value of the initiative.”
“My main take-aways from the course were a deeper understanding of potential buyers and understanding the differences there are for female and male founders. Not to say I will change how I do things or who I am when approaching my business but being aware of these mechanisms and learning how to approach the scene – that has been very valuable to me.”
“I learned a lot from the other female founders. It was a strong supportive community that we got up and running during the six months we were a part of the program. Even though we’re founders from across many different industries and different stages in our startup process, it was extremely useful learnings we all acquired through the course. Even after the completion of the program, we can all still find community and help among one another.”
“Finding community in the course has been amazing, but even more useful is a programme like this to promote female diversity within tech. Personally, I think it’s a bit sad it is necessary, but that aside, it’s good to put a focus on females in tech and show that at the end of the day a founder is a founder.”
